Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

I am a huge fan of riding boots. It’s just so unfortunate that I live in a tropical country where people are not so used in seeing common people wearing boots under the scorching sun. It’s like fashion suicide if I force myself to use riding boots in going to  the mall or the market.

This is one GOOD reason why I want to visit cold countries where people are required to wear leg warmers and boots. It’s my life-long dream and I’m never going to stop until I would be able to pull off a get-up like this:

A Curious Thought: What’s Inside a Bad Boy’s Pair of Pants?‏

What does action star Robin Padilla, former president Joseph Estrada, and cosmetic surgeon-turned-celebrity Hayden Kho have in common with Hollywood stars James Dean, Collin Farrel, and Robert Downey, Jr.?

Unless you’re a brooding man who can make women want to drop everything and land in your brawny arms every time something unfriendly comes their way, most men have all went through devastating heartaches at some point in their lives. We’ve seen it a thousand times—nice guys getting dumped and friend-zoned over stoic, devastatingly gorgeous, distressed men reminiscent of Damon Salvatore and Edward Cullen, who can make even blood sucking look sexy. What is it about bad boys that put sparkle in women’s eyes, glow in their cheeks, and blood rushing into their veins and other lovely parts?

No, this is not another story about vampires who sparkle in the midday sun while wearing outrageously pale faces and pouted lips. This is the truth that young boys long to discover, grown ups laugh about, and our grandpas love to revisit. This is the story of every Adam that will never be written in the history of mankind.

Three-time best-selling author and 30th National Book Awards finalist RJ Ledesma unravels how this and other crazy, perplexing phenomena are taking place, as he launches his fourth book “It Only Hurts When I Pee, RJ Ledesma’s Guide on Bodily Gases, Hair Loss and Pink Parts.” The book, distributed by Anvil Publishing, is a compilation of the ridiculously truthful, self-aware and highly comical chronicles of the less hygienic male species based on curious epic research, thorough investigation and, ahem, first-hand experience.

From the freshly squeezed brain juices of RJ Ledesma, the book and all its 167 pages tackles amusing topics and antics, including classic and epic details in the Pinoy dating and mating scenes, and male entertainment created simply by grimy fingers and a lack of good taste.

Wonder why bad guys often become the object of romance by women who, in RJ’s own word, desire “to increase the country’s current voting population”? Let the entrepreneur, multimedia practitioner, yogi and author of Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me (2008), I Do or I Die (2009), and Is It Hot In Here Or Is It Me? (2010) tickle your funny bone and usher you into testosterone land with his newest masterpiece guaranteed to make you pee to your heart’s content.

This question has been bugging me for months now. Though I know that my daughter could sing and has shown great interest on musical instruments, I still do not know if she indeed has musical talent. You know how moms could get so biased most of the time

How should I know if my child has musical talent?

You see his dad could sing, his uncle plays the guitar soooo well. Right now, Yona would always want to visit the guitar stores of malls on every visit.

So is she really musically inclined? I would want to enroll her in a music class, singing or guitar perhaps but I don’t know where to start. I don’t want to spend on something that she would get tired of after a few classes.

Help me please?

We usually thank the Lord for the good things and results that come our way, but when will we ever learn to thank Him for every crisis AKA bad things that we encounter everyday?

I’ll start doing it now, because of some point we learned something from these bad things.

Thank you Lord for the pain, my tears cleansed my eyes
For my cough and cold, for I was able to rest and sleep for hours
For the disappointments, for I learned to believe in myself and in what I can do
For the failed jobs, I’ll never received new ones without it.
For the traffic jam, I learned to think about new opportunities.
For people who doesn’t like me, they made me love and respect myself more.
And thank you, Lord, for the every day drama. It made me realize that I am human.

How about you, what are the negative things you’re thankful for?

The previous days were hell. My grandfather (86) died so we went back and forth Manila – Leyte. Though he died the ‘normal way/old age’ it was still painful to us, the family he left behind. And you all know how it is when a person leaves 9 of his children, chaos, right? true. Different personalities = different point of views. So you get the picture.

Anyhoo, the positive side of everything that has happened was we were able to bond with uncles and cousins. The day after the burial, all 15 of us went trekking We trusted our feet to lead us to the wonderful side of Abuyog, Leyte – the SABANG. No trail cameras, no guides, just us.

Mid of 2010 I stopped getting projects from oDesk mainly because I gave birth to Project Happiness Bakehouse and the planning, recipe trials and what-have-you’s in building an online bakehouse. It was tough, believe me and it took me a while to get recognized. The continuous flow of orders came at the start of 2011 already and just when the orders started pouring in, I got pregnant, almost lost the baby blah blah blah

So I really stopped working for people from the foreign land. And here comes 2012, while most people are looking for Orderly Jobs here and abroad, here I am, wishing that I could find a suitable VA job for me in oDesk. The business is doing good, I just need an extra job to sustain my “luho” LOL

It’s worth taking the risk, right?

My eldest daughter is 6 and yes, like most techie kids these days, she is addicted to online computer games and would often play with games on Facebook. This makes her our computer prone to viruses and her being exposed to ads with adult content like free online dating. This is a fact but I am just super thankful that she’s not the type who clicks and downloads anything from the net =)

Last Christmas, my brother gave her a super pink Nintendo DS so for now she’s off my laptop and her PC. Don’t know how long will this last hahaha

I have just been introduced to The Vampire Diaries and I am blaming myself for not watching this series that has been downloaded and saved on my external hard drive for a long time now.

After Twilight there’s The Vampire Diaries, so I am so into vampires, right? Seriously I am getting curious on how these creatures live and survive. Their diet and all =) I am almost done with Season 2 and currently downloading parts of Season 3.

Am I losing my bearings now? LOL

Sometimes we’d get up on the wrong side of the bed. Oftentimes OTHER people would piss us very early in the morning without knowing how much they could ruin somebody’s mood. May kasabihan tayo na “Biruin mo na ang lasing, wag lang ang bagong gising”. Pero dapat, “Pestehen mo na ang lasing, wag lang ang bagong gising”. Some people are just plain walang modo or too stupid to piss people in the morning. Matatalino pa naman sana.

Oh well, it happened to me one day. That incident ruined everything for me, thanks to you and your pea-sized brain. So I left home to get a breather. Went out to get baking supplies and ingredients and met Mel, my forever and ever kumare

Mel surprised me with birthday gifts: gorgeous jewelry and blouses for me and Yona and a Pigeon bottle cleaner for Lana. Told her to venture into jewelry selling. Sayang naman ang jewelry tools niya. Here’s a photo of Yona wearing the cute blouse and the earrings and bracelet set from her.

Thank you mare for making my day

I was calling myself a baker until I met Top Pastry Chef Franck Geuffroy. He was just too good that I felt like a dot compared to him

Chef Franck is the training chef and consultant of Alain Ducasse Formation et Conseil.

This novice baker just got invited to a live pastry demonstration held in Enderun Colleges –  the L’art de la Patisserie (The Art of Pastry). Why would I say no to this once in a lifetime event? of course I said YES immediately Chef Franck demonstrated advanced techniques in making various pastries including the eye-catching all-edible sugar sculpture.

During the demonstration I learned that a Pastry Chef does more than just bake, he is capable of creating masterpieces. Pastries and desserts should not just be delicious, they must also be artistic, creative and pleasing to the eye.

Here are some of the traditional French pastries fusioned with local flavors giving classic pastries a Filipino twist:

Paris-Manila Brest

Paris-Manila Brest is a ring of golden brown pâte à choux pastry that sandwiches praline cream and sliced almonds. It was created in 1891 in honor of the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race.

Kouglof

Kouglof is a brioche-like coffee cake from Alsace—lightly sweet and studded with raisins.

Tropézienne

Tropézienne, from Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera, is a rich orange blossom water scented brioche that oozes buttercream.

St. Honoré

St. Honoré has a base of puff pastry topped with a ring of small, caramel-drenched cream puffs; the center of the cake is filled with clouds of whipped cream.

Citrus Entremet

Citrus Entremet is a confection of coconut mousse, citrus crème, white chocolate brownie and grapefruit.

Intense Raspberry Chocolate Brownie

Intense Raspberry Chocolate Brownie a rich concoction of chocolate brownie and raspberry marmalade.

Enderun Entremet

Enderun Entremet, a playful dessert of buttery shortbread, sour calamansi, intense chocolate biscuit, gingered milk chocolate, and crunchy peanut praline.

As you would notice, Chef Franck has been using various local fruits to flavor his pastries. This is so because this chef just loves our fruits!

“The flavor of calamansi is so strong and so fresh!” he exclaims.  “It is a pure gift from nature.  And the mangos and pineapples here are so flavorful and sweet that they are so much better than what we can find in France.”  He also loves working with coconut paste, saying that the amazing taste of roasted coconut can be used to give classic French pastries a Filipino twist.

L’art de la Patisserie (The Art of Pastry) launches Enderun Colleges’ 3-month Pastry Arts Certificate, which will begin in November 2011. The comprehensive course is ideal for home cooks who want to increase their knowledge in pastry and bread-making, professionals who want to update their knowledge, and anyone considering a career in professional pastry. Students will be given hands-on instruction in basic and advanced techniques to equip them with the skills necessary for mastering French and international pastries, confectioneries, and breads. The program also gives students the opportunity to take further studies at Ecole National Supèrieure de la Pâtisserie, the pastry arts training center of Alain Ducasse Formation.

More importantly, it gives students a chance to discover if they have the passion, creativity, stamina, and skill to be a pastry chef.

For more information about this 3-month Pastry Arts Certificate, please contact:

Enderun Colleges
1100 Campus Avenue
McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio
Taguig City 1634 Philippines
Telephone: (632) 856 5000
Facsimile:   (632) 856 4656
www.enderuncolleges.com